Conservative hardliners who supported subpoenaing Attorney General Pam Bondi in the House Oversight Committee’s Jeffrey Epstein probe are now indicating that they are open to changing their position after Bondi met with the panel fora briefing that turned contentiouswith Democrats.
GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert told CNN on Thursday that she’s “absolutely” considering withdrawing her support for the subpoena because it “is absolutely shameful to have her come in there willingly to answer anything that we want to ask, and to be treated that way. It just shows what’s to come.”
Bondi’s voluntary meeting with committee members behind closed doors on Wednesday erupted when Democrats stormed out of the room in frustration, saying she would not commit to complying with her subpoena.
Boebert told Bondi that she was “embarrassed” that she had voted to subpoena her for a deposition during the briefing, according to two sources familiar with the exchange. The congresswoman also said she would withdraw the subpoena if she could, the sources added.
CNN has reached out to Boebert for comment on the closed-door meeting.
Five Republicans on the panelvoted earlier this monthto subpoena Bondi.
House Oversight Chair James Comer told reporters on Thursday that he plans to talk to his fellow Republicans about what the next steps are, but indicated he plans on honoring the subpoena. Comer was not one of the five Republicans to vote for the subpoena and has said he didn’t think it was necessary.
“I haven’t talked to Republicans, I’m sure I’ll give them a call this weekend,” Comer said. “I don’t know what is going to happen. We’ll talk to the Republicans. But as of now, I plan on moving forward with all of our subpoenas.”
Comer said if he were to rescind Bondi’s subpoena he would have to talk to counsel because he is not sure how the process would be handled.
Boebert said she hasn’t talked to the White House “at all” about her support for the subpoena, but slammed Democrats for how they handled Bondi’s appearance on Capitol Hill.
“They claim that no one is above the law, and when someone says they’ll follow it, they’re like, no, no. I know on our side that’s BS, so it must be BS when you say it right, and the way they behaved, it makes me not want to support a subpoena to force her to come in and be treated the way she was treated yesterday, it was really embarrassing,” she said.
Rep. Tim Burchett, another Republican whovoted to subpoenaBondi, implied Wednesday’s proceedings made him frustrated with Democrats on the panel, calling their walkout “all staged.”
“She was there, they had an opportunity, and they blew it,” he said.
Pressed if Bondi should still answer to the subpoena, Burchett responded, “It’s up to her. We’re not going to get much out of this deal,” lamenting the handling of the Epstein files.
“You know, if we’d have just gone a little slower, we would have gotten there a little faster,” he said.
